Did she jump? Do we need to get out the white chalk? No, no no. Someone is a little juice drunk perhaps?
I don't know what it is but these photos just really make me giggle. She only stays that way for less than 5 minutes, but it's long enough for me to snap a picture that I can laugh at over and over.
Our baby girl is officially in the DOUBLE DIGITS! 10 months old. Wow, wow, wow.
Yeahhhh, blurry action shot again. I just loved the energy this photo captured so I had to use it. She is so joyful and we cannot get enough!
It's been such a fun month. It feels like Makaela is really starting to communicate with us more and her personality is blossoming by the minute...and she is definitely living up to the April Fool's Birthday Baby title - such a little jokester.
She is really into making faces lately. She is sure to let you know if she likes or doesn't like something. Who knew a frowny face could make me smile?!
She is also quite the little chatter box. I don't know what she's saying, but man oh man does she have a lot on her mind. Jabber. Jaws. One of the cutest things is when she pulls out a book and "reads" it to mama and daddy.
We've really enjoyed family time this past month and have started a new tradition we like to call "Pancake Sundays." Usually spent at Cracker Barrel, where Makaela likes to devour a mound of pancakes. She only breaks to wave and smile at every single person that passes by our table.
And of course if you're gonna go to Cracker Barrel for Pancake Sunday, you're gonna dress up in the ol' Country Store. Obvi.
And sometimes you just can't resist and you find yourself purchasing one of the items you dressed up in, and wearing it around the whole day...
This past month we also spent a lot of time hanging with friends. Makaela loves to socialize...
Speaking of things she loves, add slurping up water from the (clean - thank goodness) dishwasher to the list...
In fact, that is not her only canine-like tendency...
And what do I love? Playing with her ever-growing hair...
How can you not love the crap out of this little nugget? That belly is just ASKING to be tickled...
The outtakes are too funny this month. Maybe she thinks she can fly?
It's no secret that around here we love a quick and easy project. Bonus points when it's super inexpensive. Double bonus points when it is Valentine's Day related, because even though I could care less about the holiday, for some reason I love crafts related to it.
We made magnets again!
I understand that you are insanely jealous of my high-end white refrigerator. I get it. Really I do. Please try and control your envy so you can focus on the craft at hand.
I picked up a package of felt hearts that also came with a bunch of felt lovey-dovey themed cut outs. I think the package had something like 12-16 hearts, but 4 seemed like the right number for our fridge.
I used my hot glue gun to attach the cut-outs to the front of the heart, and the magnet to the back. I used the same magnet roll from the snowflake craft we did, and just cut the pieces to a reasonable size.
Even though the magnet is fairly large, we all know kids are cray and fit the most bizarre things in their mouths so it is still a "supervised play" kind of thing.
This is definitely an easy, inexpensive project that provides lots of entertainment. Makaela plays at the refrigerator for a decent chunk of time daily. Happy baby = happy mama.
She loves sliding them around on the fridge...
And pulling them off and putting them back on....
And stacking them and passing them out to Mama, Daddy and of course Rocky and Ginger :)
Excuse the blurriness of the above action shots. For some reason, Makaela doesn't stop and pose for photos when I ask her to. Hmm. Weird ;-)
Ginger is the newest addition to our family. She is a sweet 3-5 year old Chocolate Lab mix, weighing in at 43 pounds.
We got her from another family who was possibly moving and didn't have a yard for her. They were kind of like "foster parents" to her. She was with them for about a year.
They had gotten her from a shelter and prior to that our sweet Ging had a rough life. She was rescued from a house that had OVER ONE-HUNDRED DOGS. They used bark collars, so we have yet to hear Ginger bark and assume we probably never will. She also is terrified of any kind of sound (no matter the volume) that comes out of speakers. She can be timid but also playful. She also knows commands like "sit" "lay down" "stay" and "shake." Tim enjoys going running with her.
She is wonderful and we love her.
The greatest part is that she is excellent with Makaela. This was obviously our #1 criteria when looking for a new pup-pup.
And now I have three shadows. This little peanut pack follows me everywhere. Rock and Ging get along too. I wouldn't say they are BFFs but they do just fine....that is until Mr. Horn-dog, Rocky, tries to hump Ginger. He really never figured that whole thing out. When he stands up on his hind legs he's about eye level with Ginger's pooper... one swift wag of her tail and he goes flying.
Ginger is the perfect height for Makaela right now. They see eye-to-eye. Makaela loves to use Ginger as support to stand up. Not sure Ginger loves it, but she is awfully sweet about it.
Occasionally, Ginger's crazy strong tail gets a littttttle out of control and whacks Makaela right in the head....the downside of them being the same height. Sometimes there are tears, sometimes a frowny face and sometimes she just pats the "ouch." Tough girl that MikMak is ;-)
My favorite moments of the day are when the whole posse is napping. If only I could join them!
A couple weekends ago, we babysat a friend's kiddo so they could go enjoy a mommy-daddy date before baby #2 arrives. We lucked out and had nice weather, so we decided to spend some time at the park across the street.
The swings were a big hit. Swinging started with lots of laughter and big smiles, and ended with two munchkins nearly asleep.
It was Makaela's first time having a little person over to HER house. Her little buddy loved driving her car, and she loved carrying around his stuffed animal. They did a pretty good job playing together. No bumps, bruises or tears.
Lunch was rather interesting, and these two had to be separated because they were having a little TOO much fun sharing and flinging spaghetti around. I have no pictures of that escapade because, oh yeah that's right, my hands were covered in spaghetti sauce...yummmm.
It's always fun to spend time with a toddler...gives us a slight glimpse of what the future has in store for us. We better start stocking up on coffee now. Oh, and we better watch our mouths ;-)
Because we had so much fun swinging, I decided to take Mak back to the park one day while Tim was at work. It was a bit colder, so we had to bundle up.
And someone had to rock her shades because it was darn sunny...
There were a couple little boys, probably about 5 years old, at the park with their mom. The second they saw Makaela swinging, they begged their mom to push them on the swings. Poor lady was enjoying her quiet time on the bench, haha. She said "Why don't you guys run around and get some energy out?" Nope, they wanted to swing. Man, oh, man, did she give me the stink eye.
My friend said it best, mama shoulda taught those kids how to pump. LOL.
